I Hate Hoping
by immafishcracker
Summary: The summer before he meets Allmight, Izuku's mom sends him to a summer camp. He doesn't actually read the flyer until he's on the bus and he suddenly regrets giving in so quickly. 'Sunshine Summer Camp, an Exploration of Future Careers' is pasted on the front in big, red letters. In the fine print is an explanation of how the camp is for kids with small quirks or no quirks at all


**Notes:** This story is a gift for Shiranai Atsune on ffn, who requested (eight months ago because I suck at deadlines) "A couple of years before U.A., Izuku went to a summer camp one summer and met a bunch of new friends. Some of Izuku's classmates at U.A. reminded Izuku of his summer friends"

I was finally motivated to finish it because the next season comes out soon.

Title is from "Baby Hotline" by Jack Stauber

* * *

The summer before he meets Allmight, Izuku's mom sends him to a summer camp.

Izuku has never really been one for the outdoors, but one whole summer away from Kacchan feels like a blessing. Middle school has brought the worst out of Katsuki. He'd never do anything to interfere with his plans to get into UA, but it doesn't stop him from tormenting Izuku whenever he gets the chance.

He's careful not to say anything around her and it's hard to hide his singed hair and black-eyes from his mom, but Izuku tries anyway. It's been a hard year and dad is still fresh on their minds. Izuku hates worrying her, so he doesn't say anything. If he did, mom would probably tell Aunt Mitsuki.

Mitsuki knows her son is a little shit (in her own words) and she'd probably slap him into the next century if she knew he was picking on 'Inko's sweet little angel' (also her words), but Izuku's doesn't want to cause any trouble. The Bakugou family frightens him enough already.

So when Mom hands him the flyer with big, sad eyes, Izuku doesn't even hesitate before saying yes.

"It's not going to be the whole summer, just a few weeks. Maybe you'll meet some friends, and find something new? " She brushes his hair away from his face, and Izuku thinks maybe he wasn't as good at hiding the bullying as he thought he was.

He doesn't actually read the flyer until he's on the bus, stuck next to a boy who talks so much Izuku's worried his mouth will fall off, and he suddenly regrets giving in so quickly. 'Sunshine Summer Camp, an Exploration of Future Careers!' is pasted on the front in big, red letters. In the fine print is an explanation of how the camp is great for kids with small quirks or no quirks at all.

Find something new?  
Fantastic. Mom's trying to get him to change his Pro-Hero plans. He's walked right into this one. She's hoping he'll find some other career and forget all about UA.

Yeah, not happening.

"-and my uncle said it wasn't a big deal, but they ended up on the news. The reporter said it was one of the biggest carp they'd seen all spring. There were even some magazines asking him for his special fish food recipe. As if he'd actually tell them." The kid next to him is still talking. Izuku doesn't mind the chatter, but it is a little hard to follow.

"-she said she'd take me to America after her videos went viral, but my mom says you have to speak English to live in America, and my sister is really bad at English. What about you?" The boy finally stops and starts staring at Izuku expectantly.

"Uh… sorry?"

"You ever want to see America?"

That's where Allmight is from, Izuku's mind supplies him uselessly, "Sure. I mean yes. I mean yeah totally." Heat rises in his cheeks.

The other boy is unphased, "Cool. I'll take you with me when I get there. What's your name again?"

Izuku doesn't think he ever told him in the first place. The boy had just plopped down in the seat next to him and started talking. "Midoriya… Midoriya Izuku."

"Kobayashi Takeru, you can call me Kobi though."

Kobi spends the rest of the ride rambling about everything from robots to frozen pizza. Izuku still doesn't understand half of what he's saying. When the bus finally arrives at the camp, he tries to subtly walk away but Kobi grabs him by the arm.

"Hey, Midoriya! You want to be in one of the A cabins, trust me."

Izuku doesn't have much of a choice. He's dragged towards the cluster of cabins closest to the lake, just in time for a counselor to put them in a group with two other boys. Neither of them looks particularly pleased with the arrangement.

The cabin is small. There's a front door, back door, two sets of bunk beds, and a full-length mirror on the back wall. The floor is cement, only covered by a rug that's somehow survived dozens of summers with restless pre-teens.

"I get this bunk," says one of the other boys in a non-negotiable tone. He slings his duffel bag on top of the bed next to the windows. His hair is cool. One side is shaved in an undercut and the rest is long and dark, curtaining his eyes. With the scowl, he looks like the kind of kid Izuku would probably avoid at school.

The other boy just shrugs and drops his bag on the bunk under the first boy. He pulls a book out of his backpack and lays down, already turning a page.

Neither one looks like someone who would voluntarily spend their summer in some run-down camp with fifty other kids.

"Well, I guess we're sharing then, Midoriya!" Kobi smiles, seemingly oblivious to the less-than-cheerful atmosphere, "Do you want top or bottom?"

"Oh… I don't care either way."

Kobi frowns, staring at the bunk. His eyes narrow on the ladder. He seems to be thinking very hard about the choice, even though it seems like a simple one. Izuku is more than willing to take the bottom if Kobi wants the top.

Suddenly Kobi breaks into a wide grin, "I guess I'll take the bottom! Then I don't have to go up and down the ladder all the time!"

Not the choice Izuku had been expecting, but he's not going to start an argument. Instead, he carefully lifts his bag to the top bunk. Between Kobi's mindless rambling and the other boy's glares, this is going to be a very long few weeks.

"My name's Kobi! That's Midoriya. What are your names?"

Izuku looks up to see Kobi is no longer unpacking but standing at the base of the other bunk bed. Book-boy is looking up with a raised eyebrow. He looks older. Izuku thinks he might be in high school already.

"Excuse me?"

Kobi doesn't even bother with formalities, something that makes Izuku cringe, "Names! We're gonna be cabin-mates, right? We should know each other's names, silly!"

Dark-haired boy snorts, tossing his bangs up and laughing, "What? You think we're gonna be bosom buddies or something?"

A flush crosses Kobi's cheeks, clashing horribly with his orange hair. "N-no! I just thought we should know!" His posture has completely changed. Instead of bouncing up and down, he's rocking back and forth, his arms locked tightly at his sides. Izuku feels a sudden rush of sadness at how quickly Kobi's excitement is crushed. "I'm Kobi." He repeats.

Book-boy closes his book and glares at the bunk above him, "I'm Suzuki, and don't worry about him. We should at least know each other's names."

Thank god, at least the older kid is nice.

The darker haired boy sniffs, scrunching up his nose. He can tell he's being called out for being rude. "Whatever. I'm Tanaka, and for the record, I never asked to be sent here."

Suzuki rolls his eyes, then goes right back to his book as if nothing's happened, but Kobi's eyes have widened. He's staring at Suzuki with awe.

Yes, it's definitely going to be a long summer.

* * *

The camp itself isn't terrible. A little old and run down after years of use, but the lake is fun and the counselors are nice enough. They make bandanas at a craft station. Kobi's is shamelessly covered in lightning bolts and stars. Izuku tries to make his Allmight themed, but the marker bleeds through, so it looks like someone put an American flag in a blender.

Tanaka gets in trouble for drawing some sort of leaf all over his bandana. Izuku doesn't know what it means, but it makes Suzuki laugh and mutter something about weeds.

Career placement is the worst.

The campers are gathered in an outdoor picnic pavilion and forced to listen to the counselors talk about perspective careers. None of them sound very promising. It's clear that they don't expect very much from a group of kids who have small quirks or no quirks at all.

Izuku is handed a paper and told to write down what he wants to do when he grows up. He doesn't even hesitate before jotting down 'Pro-Hero'. Then he looks around, expecting everyone else to have finished just as quickly.

They haven't.

Tanaka is folding his paper into an airplane, not even bothering to try and write something down. Suzuki has scrawled down something vague, and Kobi looks like he's panicking.

"What do I put down? There are so many things, I can't decide! Is dolphin riding a job? What about playing video games? Can I make money off of that?"

"They can't force you to write something down," Tanaka says with a scowl, "just accept that you're going nowhere in life. You'll end up living in your parent's basement at thirty."

Kobi looks like he's about to cry. Suzuki elbows Tanaka in the ribs.

"Ow, what? It's the truth. Who wants to hire a quirkless when they can get someone with superpowers?"

A strained silence falls over the whole table. Kids from other cabins who heard Tanaka's remark look at the ground dejectedly. They've all heard it before, but it still hurts to hear it be said so bluntly. One boy crumbles up his paper and throws it into a tree.

"Tanaka," Suzuki hisses, "quiet down!"

It's too late. A counselor has noticed the commotion and is already walking towards their table. Tanaka groans and drops his head into his arms. Kobi stiffens, his paper still covered in eraser smudges.

"What's going on over here?" The Counselor looks over the table, frowning when no one will respond or meet his eyes. He sits in the extra space on the very end of the bench, next to Suzuki and across from Izuku. "What ideas do we have so far, campers?"

Suzuki picks up his paper and waves it half-heartedly. The counselor takes it and reads what he's written with confusion.

"This just says business… care to be more specific?"

Suzuki smirks, "It's my business, not yours."

Tanaka cackles, but Izuku doesn't think the joke is very funny.

The Counselor sighs, then decides that it's not worth trying to get Suzuki to change his answer. He picks up Izuku's paper instead, "What do you have Midoriya?" There's a pause as he reads Izuku's writing, and then he grins awkwardly, "Ah, well that's certainly an ambitious goal."

"What did he write?" Tanaka leans over the table and snatches Izuku's paper out of the Counselor's hand. It takes less than a second for him to burst out laughing, "Pro-Hero? Now that's hilarious!"

Izuku stiffens, his gaze dropping to his lap. He knows how ridiculous it sounds. It's a high goal even for someone who has a quirk, and he's had enough bruises and bloody lips to know people don't react well when a quirkless wants to try something so ambitious. He has no way of saying just how important this is to him, though. Being a hero is all he wants to do with his life.

Tanaka notices his posture, "Wait- you're not serious, are you? You actually think you can become a hero?"

"It's not impossible," Izuku mutters, "I could do it."

"That's the spirit!" The Counselor suddenly jumps in, "There are plenty of things Midoriya could do to be a hero! He could become an investigator or a social worker, or he could-"

"I don't want to be a social worker," Izuku interrupts firmly, "I'm going to be a Pro-Hero."

Suzuki looks away pointedly and Kobi starts to fidget again. The Counselor grimaces. They all look nervous. It's like they're worried no one's told Izuku that he can't be a hero without a quirk. Like he doesn't know just how hard it would be.

Tanaka only laughs harder, "What are you going to do? Mumble the villains to death?"

The Counselor sighs. He looks tired. "You know, I think you four have done good work for today. Why don't you all head to dinner a little early?"

They all stand up quickly, not bothering to pick up their papers. All Izuku wants to do is escape Tanaka's taunting, but as soon as they make it out of the Pavillion Kobi grabs his wrist and drags him determinedly to the other boys.

"That was really rude you know."

Tanaka looks unimpressed, "What? You want me to apologize to Mr. Delusional over there? He thinks he can beat up supervillains. Without a quirk."

"It was just an idea! You don't have to make fun of him!"

Izuku tries to pry his wrist out of Kobi's grasp, "It's okay, he's fine, you don't need to fight over it."

"No, it's not okay! Don't you have something you'd like to be when you grow up?"

"Other than living out of my parents' basement? No."

"Liar," Suzuki cuts in with a singsong voice, "He wants to be a doctor."

Tanaka scowls and punches the other boy in the shoulder, "Shut up! I told you not to tell anyone about that!"

A doctor isn't really the career Izuku would think someone like Tanaka would be interested in. Usually, doctors tend to be the more caring type, but Tanaka looks genuinely upset that Suzuki told his secret.

"Why can't you be a doctor then?" Kobi asks, even though he probably already knows the answer.

"You think someone would hire me? When there are people who can completely heal others with the blink of an eye? I have about as much chance of becoming a surgeon as dream boy here has of becoming the next Allmight."

A heavy silence falls over the four. Suzuki looks very much like he'd rather be anywhere else.

"Okay then," Midoriya finally speaks up, "when I get into U.A. you better be ready to apply for medical school."

"Yeah. Sure, man. When that happens."

The sky is overcast but the mall is still just as crowded as any other weekend. Shoppers emerge from dozens of stores with large bags dangling from their arms left and right. Izuku wonders if it'll start raining on their way back, and resolves to find the groceries as quick as possible.

UA has a small store for students on campus and a lunchroom that serves hot meals, but the lunchroom is only open midday and the student store only sells cup ramen and other cheap snacks. It's clear that if they want any real food in the dorm, Class A has to go out and buy it themselves.

Iida volunteered to do all the shopping himself, as class president, but after the fiasco last time when Midoriya was cornered by one of the League of Villains, they decided it was best to go in groups.

It's only supposed to be Midoriya, Iida, and Uraraka, but Kirishima and Kaminari are looking through stores for the junk food Iida has been refusing to buy for them, and Kacchan has a weirdly long and specific shopping list that he doesn't trust anyone else to get right. Basically, half the class are milling about in groups of three or four.

"Do you think we need more eggs?" Iida asks, scribbling something on the list he's been working on all week.

They do. Sero and the others used a few dozen trying to fry them on Todoroki's left arm, but Midoriya's not sure how they'd get a carton of eggs home. His arms are loaded with groceries, Iida is refusing to put down the stack of coupons and receipts he keeps thumbing through, and Uraraka already has a dangerously long trail of purchases floating behind her.

"Maybe we could get them next week?" She suggests gently.

"Or we could ask one of the others to help carry them, I'm sure they have-"

Izuku's idea is cut off by his own name being yelled across the shopping center, "Midoriya! Hey Midoriya! Is that you?"

He looks around in confusion, not immediately recognizing the voice. His gaze lands on a shorter boy with blazing orange hair.

"Kobi?"

Kobayashi Takeru sprints over. He's wearing an apron with the logo of one of the nearby clothes shops, "Remember me? It's been a while!"

It would be difficult to forget the talkative boy Izuku shared a bunk bed with for four weeks. Sunshine Summer Camp seemed longer than it actually was, and Izuku tried not to think about the excruciating boredom he'd had to endure while making beaded bracelets and listening to career presentations. Even now he still occasionally had dreams about the Camp Director's shrill whistle and the day Suzuki had accidentally overturned their canoe into the pond.

"Oh hey, good to see-" Izuku can't even finish his sentence before Kobi cuts him off, rambling at a seemingly sub-human speed.

"I saw you on tv! You were in the UA sports festival! It was so amazing, I was telling my mom and sister all about you at summer camp. Jeez, can you believe that was nearly three years ago? We were practically babies! It's so cool that you got such a cool quirk so late!"

Iida adjusts his glasses and robotically thrusts his hand forward, "Are you a friend of Midoriya?"

Kobi takes the hand with enthusiasm and shakes it for longer than necessary, "Yep! I'm Kobi. We went to a summer camp together once back in Middle School. You're Iida Tenya, right? I saw you on tv too, you were pretty cool!"

Iida looks pleased with the compliment. Uraraka smiles good-naturedly, even though it's clear she doesn't really know what's going on.

"Oh, Midoriya, you'll never guess! I got my quirk late too!" Kobi points at his apron, screwing up his face like he's trying to concentrate very hard on something. Like the flash of a television changing channels, his apron turns from cargo green to a dark, navy blue. "I can change the color of things."

"Woah!" Izuku is half tempted to pull out his notebook. He's already wondering if Kobi could have some sort of chameleon powers to disguise himself. That could be useful.

"I know right! The thrift shop over there hired me to change colors of clothing, but I'm thinking of applying to a hair salon. Maybe I can change hair colors."

"You're going to be a hairstylist? That's really cool!" Uraraka says encouragingly.

Kobi turns a little red and musses his hair sheepishly, "Well, no, not really. I just need money for college, you know. I really want to be a marine biologist so I can study dolphins."

"You're not going to use your quirk in your career?" Iida looks confused, and Izuku realizes that for someone who's quirk is so powerful it seems ridiculous to not use it at all.

Kobi shrugs, "I mean there are just so many options. I don't want to be a crayon box forever, right? Oh, speaking of careers, have you heard from Tanaka?"

Izuku shakes his head. This is the first time he's met anyone from Sunshine Summer Camp since that summer. To be honest, he hadn't really even remembered Tanaka was there. The boy had been so stand-offish at the beginning of camp, and then he'd just gotten quiet. He'd only talk to Suzuki.

"Remember that deal you guys had, that when you got into UA he'd go to med school? Well, apparently he saw you at the sports festival and now he's studying to take the test to get in! He wants to be a surgeon!"

"That's certainly ambitious," Iida says.

"Yeah, right! I saw you Midoriya and I just knew I needed to tell you. You've really inspired a lot of us. It's amazing!"

Izuku suddenly feels overwhelmed. He hasn't thought about himself being an inspiration to others outside of UA. He hasn't really thought about what anyone he used to know thinks about him at all.

"Kobi!" A gruff voice calls from the thrift store, "You better have a very good reason for leaving your station!"

"Coming boss!" Kobi shouts. He pulls a pen from one of his apron pockets and grabs Izuku's arm, "Here's my phone number, you should text me sometimes."

He sprints off and Izuku stares down at the phone number scrawled between the handles of shopping bags hanging from his forearms. There's a smiley face next to the last few numbers.

Iida sighs, "Well that was interesting, but now we're four minutes late to meet up with the others."

"Oh, yeah. Right. Sorry about that." Izuku gets a better hold on his bags and starts towards the front of the mall where they'd agreed to meet up after shopping. The other group of three, Kirishima, Kaminari, and Kacchan are already gathered there. Kacchan is shouting something about how unhealthy the chips Kirishima bought are.

As they're walking, Uraraka nudges into Izuku's shoulder. He looks over and she's smiling. "You're really cool, Deku. You know that, right?"

Izuku's face feels like it's blazing. He lets out a small, flustered, "Thanks."

Looking back at the thrift shop, he thinks that maybe it's not so lame to be quirkless. All around him are people doing their best to reach their goals, no matter how powerful they are. If he can inspire just a few people to do that, then maybe all his work will be worth it.

Izuku climbs onto the campus bus thinking about his friends, summer camps, and quirks. He puts Kobi's number into his phone thinking that someday he might just need a marine biologist who works with dolphins or a surgeon who can't heal people right away.

* * *

**Notes: **I'm so sorry if the names were confusing. I don't really know how Japanese honorifics work so I just didn't use them because I didn't want to mess it up. I used Midoriya's first name while he's talking in his head because I also mentioned his mom, but everyone else calls him Midoriya. I also called Bakugou Kacchan because it's told from Midoriya's perspective.

All the original characters belong to me. Maybe I'll do something else with them, I don't know.

Thanks for reading, please leave a Kudos or a Comment if you think this was good at all :)


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